The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced various types of ICs that serve different purposes. The fabrication of some types of ICs may require forming a III-V family layer on a substrate, for example forming a III-V family layer on a substrate. These types of IC devices may include, as examples, light-emitting diode (LED) devices, radio frequency (RF) devices, and high power semiconductor devices.
Traditionally, manufacturers have formed the III-V family layer on a sapphire substrate. However, sapphire substrates are expensive. Thus, some manufacturers have been exploring forming III-V family layers on a silicon substrate, which is cheaper. However, existing methods of forming a III-V family layer on a silicon substrate may suffer from various drawbacks. One of these drawbacks involves outgas sing of the III-V family layer in one or more fabrication stages. The outgas sing of the III-V family layer may result in contamination of the silicon substrate. Therefore, existing fabrication processes may need to form a protective coating layer around the silicon substrate to prevent such contamination. The formation of the protective coating layer requires additional fabrication processes and therefore lengthens fabrication time and increases fabrication costs.
Therefore, while existing methods of forming III-V family layers on silicon substrates have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.